HomeMy WebLinkAboutADM 160 Customer Service PolicyPICKERING
Policy
Procedure Title: Customer Service Policy
Policy Number
ADM 160
Reference
Resolution #22/09
Bill 8
Resolution # 200/16
Date Originated (m/d/y)
January 2009
Date Revised (m/d/y)
April 2015
September 2016
Pages
5
Approval: Chief Ad ' istra 'vOfficer
6?
Policy Objective
Point of Contact
Division Head, City Administration
The City of Pickering provides services to our citizens, businesses and other community
stakeholders. Every effort will be made to ensure we provide cost-effective, citizen -centred
service that is accessible, timely, knowledgeable, competent, courteous, caring, and fair.
In accordance with Bill 8, the City of Pickering has a renewed responsibility to strengthen and
clearly define our local complaint mechanisms and policies, which gives complainants a clear
path to follow when seeking resolution to an issue. The Ontario Ombudsman will only investigate
a complaint once local complaint processes have been completed, thus members of the public
will be able to utilize the Ontario Ombudsman if they feel their complaints are not being heard by
the municipality.
This policy will set out standards and procedures to meet our customer service objectives, and
will outline the process for receiving feedback and resolving issues relating to public complaints.
Index
01 Definitions
02 Scope and Responsibility
03 Guiding Principles
04 Procedure for Submitting and Processing a Complaint
05 Training
06 Feedback
07 Accessibility Standards
01 Definitions
01.01 Accessibility Standards — Ontario regulation 429/07 created under the
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005, (AODA) which provides for
standards to enhance the accessibility of an organization.
01.02 Bill 8 is the Public Sector and MPP Accountability and Transparency Act,
2014. This legislation makes changes to the Ontario Ombudsman's mandate,
expanding their jurisdiction to municipalities which allows the Ombudsman to
investigate municipal complaints.
01.03 Complaint — any expression of dissatisfaction about. the action or lack of action
taken regarding operations, facilities or services provided by the City of
Pickering or by a person or body acting on behalf of the City. The term
"dissatisfaction" is key to the definition of a complaint. Feedback of a positive or
general nature, comments on a service or facility that do not require a response,
or requests for service, are not complaints. Complaints imply that the
complainant is unhappy with the service received, and that they require a follow-
up in response to the issue.
01.04 Customers:
a) all staff;
b) Mayor & Members of Council;
c) other political representatives;
d) citizens and visitors to the City of Pickering;
e) businesses;
f) volunteers and agents recognized by the City; and
g) all community stakeholders.
01.05 Feedback — means an opinion, comment, or expression of interest with respect
to a City program or service.
01.06 Ontario Ombudsman — an official whose function is to investigate in an
independent manner any decision or recommendation made or done or omitted
in the course of the administration of the municipality.
01.07 Service Level Standard — A standard defining customer service best practices.
01.08 Service request — a service request can be received through various service
channels and shall be responded to in compliance with corporate policies and
procedures. Service requests may be a complaint, issue, or simply a request for
service.
Policy Title: Customer Service
Policy Number: ADM 160
Page 2 of 5
02 Scope and Responsibility
02.01 Anonymous allegations or allegations made on behalf of an unidentified third
party will not be considered or investigated, with the exception of complaints
that are an immediate threat to safety.
02.02 This Policy applies to all municipal employees.
02.03 This Policy is not meant to address:
a) issues already addressed by legislation, or an existing Municipal by-law,
policy or procedure;
b) services of the municipality where there already exists a right of appeal or
process to complain;
c) a decision of Council or a decision of a Standing Committee; or
d) internal employee complaints.
03 Guiding Principles
03.01
All complaints will be treated in a confidential manner in order to protect the
complainant's privacy in accordance with the Municipal Freedom of Information
and Protection of Privacy Act 1990, subject to the need to disclose such
information as may reasonably be necessary in order to properly investigate the
matter.
03.02 Review of complaints shall be impartial and respectful to all parties involved.
03.03 As per the City of Pickering's service level standards, complaints should be
documented and acknowledged within one business day. This includes an initial
response to the complainant advising of anticipated action and timeline for
response. Given the nature of the issue or concern, these timelines are flexible.
03.04 The City will regularly monitor and review complaints to identify issues, trends,
areas of concern, and opportunities for improvement.
04 Procedure for Submitting and Processing a Complaint
04.01 A complaint may be given verbally (in person or by telephone) or in writing.
Written complaints can be submitted using the City's Feedback Form available
on the City's website and in City facilities, or in another format (i.e. email,
handwritten, social media, etc.). Complaints should include:
a) the specific details of what occurred;
b) date of occurrence including time, day, month and year;
c) who was involved;
Policy Title: Customer Service
Policy Number: ADM 160
Page 3 of 5
d) what outcome is being sought; and
e) contact details for the complainant.
04.02 All complaints will be forwarded to the Customer Care Centre. Complaints will
be tracked by the City's tracking system. Customer Care staff will forward the
complaint to the appropriate department for action and follow up.
04.03 Complaints received by other Departments will be handled according to the
Customer Service Policy and corresponding Standard Operating Procedures.
04.04 Customer Care staff will follow up with staff responsible on the agreed upon
follow-up date to ensure the complaint is being responded to. Once the issue
has been resolved, the complaint will be closed in the system.
04.05 Complainants shall be provided with the contact information for the Ontario
Ombudsman's Office and other options available to them in the event that they
are dissatisfied with the City's complaint process or outcome.
04.06 If any City staff are contacted by the Ontario Ombudsman's office, they must
advise the City Clerk to keep track of calls.
04.07 In order to ensure effective response timelines to citizen requests, concerns or
enquiries the service expectations have been determined for the following
categories and outlined in Appendix 1:
a) mailed or faxed correspondence;
b) email standards;
c) telephone and voicemail; and
d) complaint resolution.
04.08 Complete records will be maintained for each complaint. The records will be
maintained in accordance with the City of Pickering's Records Management By-
law.
05 Training
Customer service training is the cornerstone of our customer service program. All
employees (including full-time, part-time, term, temporary, and volunteers) receive training
on the City's customer service program. Customer service training is included in our
employee orientation sessions.
Training is based on our service level standards including:
® customer care values;
o telephone/voicemail standards;
® email standards;
® correspondence standards;
Policy Title: Customer Service Page 4 of 5
Policy Number: ADM 160
® complaint resolution; and
• accessibility standards.
06 Feedback
Customer feedback is an integral component of our service delivery program, providing
opportunities to learn and improve. We value feedback about our programs and services
and recognize the right of our citizens to make a complaint, compliment or suggestion
about our services. We are committed to using customer feedback to improve/enhance
our service delivery. All customer feedback is monitored by our Customer Care Centre,
tracked, and responded to.
07 Accessibility Standards
The City will use reasonable efforts to ensure that its policies, practices and procedures
are consistent with the following principles:
07.01 The goods or services must be provided in a manner that respects the dignity
and independence of persons with disabilities.
07.02 The provision of goods or services to persons with disabilities and to others
must be integrated unless an alternate measure is necessary, whether
temporarily or on a permanent basis, to enable the person with a disability to
obtain, use or benefit from the goods or services.
07.03 Persons with disabilities must be given an opportunity equal to that given to
others to obtain, use or benefit from the goods or services.
07.04 We will use reasonable efforts to ensure that the policies, procedures and
practices are consistent with the following principles:
® dignity;
® independence;
® integration, except when alternate measures are necessary to meet the
needs of people with disabilities; and
® equal opportunity.
Please refer.to all associated Procedures and. Standard Operating Procedures, if applicable, for
detailed processes regarding this Policy.
Appendices
Appendix 1 Service Level Standard Guidelines Summary
Policy Title: Customer Service
Policy Number: ADM 160
Page 5 of 5
ce
Telephone/Voicemail
3 Rings
• answered within 3 rings
Call Transferring
• remain on the line with your caller to ensure the correct
staff member is reached
• prior to releasing the call, inform the staff member of any
information you obtained. The caller will appreciate not
having to repeat the reason for their call a second time
• if the staff member is not available, ask for your customer's
permission, prior to releasing their call into voicemail
1 Business Day
• calls should be returned within one business day
Answered Live
• Directors/Division Heads and their Administrative
Assistant's must have live answer during regular business
hours
Keep Your Voicemail Greetings Current
• voicemail messages must be kept current and changed
daily at a minimum
Your voicemail should include:
■ your name
■ your department/division/section
■ the date
■ your availability
■ time when calls will be returned
■ a "zero" out operator option for live assistance or an
alternate contact number
Changing Voicemail Greetings and Picking Up Messages
From your phone
• press voicemail key or dial 4660
• enter security code/password
From outside the office
• call 905.420.4660 and enter *
• enter your extension number and enter #
• enter security code/password
One Team. One Vision. Infinite Possibilities.
PICKERING
Service Level Standard Summary
Se
ice e eStria
entniggy•••••••-
Re pose Timeline
Email Standards
30 Minutes
• checked within the first 30 minutes of your arrival, checked
again when you return from lunch and a final check should
be done prior to the end of the business day
2 Business Days
• emails should be acknowledged within 2 business days of
receipt. Interim acknowledgement indicating a response
time must be sent within 2 business days, if a conclusive
response is not expected within 15 business days
15 Business Days
• for response
Out of Office Assistant
• the Out of Office Assistant should be utilized in the same
fashion, as one would do for voicemail. If you are going to
be away from the office for a period of one business day or
more, the Out of Office Assistant should include your
expected date of return and an alternate contact
Outlook - System Clean Up
• prior to vacations or extended absences, delete
outdated emails so that your mailbox doesn't fill up. If
your mailbox becomes full, you will not receive any
emails that were sent to you
Mailed or Faxed
Correspondence
15 Business Days
• responded to within 15 business days of receipt
5 Business Days
Initial Acknowledgement
• if a conclusive response is not expected within 15 business
days of receipt, then an interim acknowledgement must be
sent within 5 business days
One Team. One Vision. Infinite Possibilities.
P1CICER11
Service Level Standard Summary
Handling Challenging
Customers
Use your EAR...
Empathize Put yourself in your customer's shoes.
Show them you care
Acknowledge the importance of what your customer
is saying
Re -phrase Put the customer's needs in your own
words. This shows that you have
listened and understood their need.
It's also a chance to clarify the
situation if you have misunderstood
• prepare yourself by gathering all the relevant
information
• listen without interrupting
• monitor your body language and attitude
• pause briefly before responding, this will allow you to
gather your thoughts
• stay positive, don't take your customer's complaints
or anger personally
• if your customer is becoming hostile or aggressive,
don't be afraid to ask for help from your supervisor or
another staff member
• if you are dealing with an angry or aggressive
customer on the phone, you can terminate the call; as
long as you warn them ahead of time and give them
an opportunity to correct the offensive behaviour.
Prior to hanging up, invite your customer to call back
when they have calmed down so that you can work
together to resolve their concern
*Reminder: If documentation of an incident is required,
forms can be found on the intranet.
Have you had a challenging customer? Our door is always open. Sometimes just
taking a few moments to debrief, will let you de -stress and recharge you for the rest of the
day. We are happy to lend an ear!
One Team. One Vision. Infinite Possibilities.
PICKE R1 NG
Service Level Standard Summary
Complaint Resolution
(includes telephone, email etc.,)
• our best practice service expectation is that
complainants will receive an initial response within
1 business day, and will be provided with the
anticipated action and timeframe where
appropriate. We should strive to reasonably
achieve these standards
Request for Service (tracking
system)
Within receipt of a concern/issue the resident will
be provided with an initial response within 1
business day. This will confirm the following:
1. you have received their information
2. arranged for it to be investigated
3. they will receive relevant updates (provide them
with a timeline for investigation and response; and
then stick to it)
Helpful Hint — Mark for follow up prior to the expected
due date to ensure the timeline can be adhered to. If
the timeline is not met, call the resident to advise of a
new timeline. They appreciate the follow up. This will
avoid frustration on the residents' part, and will be a
time saver for you in the end, as it will not be
escalated.
This can be achieved easily by running monthly
reports.
Be Pro -Active!
Calls Received in the Customer Care Centre
Calls entered on the tracking system that are received
by the Customer Care Centre staff will be processed
using the following guidelines:
1. the call will be sent to the appropriate staff with a
two-week follow up date, unless noted otherwise
One Team. One Vision. Infinite Possibilities.
Service Level Standard Summary
Response
Request for Service (tracking
system)- continued
2. departmental/divisional staff is responsible to update
the system to note that
a) the inspection has been conducted
b) required action to address issue and timeline for
completion
c) confirmation that the resident has been advised of
the actions that will be taken and the anticipated
timeline for completion
Issues Identified as a Potential Hazard: Issues that
are identified by the customer, as a potential hazard
should be inspected within one business day. The
course of action to address the issue should be
identified, and the resident updated as to what actions
staff will be taking and an anticipated timeline for
completion.
Timelines Not Met
If the timeline cannot be met, the resident and
interested parties must be contacted and provided with
an explanation, as well as the new timeline for
completion. This should be done one week prior to the
anticipated completion date. Reports can be generated
that will identify all outstanding issues within the
specified timeline.
Escalation Process
All calls must have an update by the agreed upon
follow up date. If the update is not recorded on the
tracking system the Supervisor/Division Head will be
copied on the 3rd request. The file will be marked for
follow up in three business days, if at that time there is
still no update, the Director will be copied on the 4th
request. At this point, Customer Care staff will be
following up daily to ensure that an update is received.
One Team. One Vision. Infinite Possibilities.
PICKE RI NG
Service Level Standard Summary
Request for Service
(tracking system) - continued
Closing a Call
A call should never be closed unless all items have
been attended to and resolved. As an example — a
tree pruning call should not be closed simply because it
is on the list. It should remain open, until the tree has
been pruned.
Mayor, Members of Council & CAO Referrals
Any calls that have Council or CAO involvement should
not be closed. It is the responsibility of the Customer
Centre to do so.
Our Customer Care team is always available to discuss any service related matters, provide
tips, receive your suggestions, or offer a listening ear. The Customer Care team can be
reached at extension 4666.
Serving Our Citizens — it's what we do!
One Team. One Vision. Infinite Possibilities.